Category: Holiness

Revival prayers

July 13, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

In 1857, our nation was tearing itself apart. Civil war was imminent, the economy was devastated. Unemployment and poverty was widespread. The world was headed for a brink and people knew it. They must prepare spiritually.

One man began to pray in a church near Wall Street. He hung posters and handed out flyers. Soon, five others joined him. Then forty. Then hundreds. Then thousands.

There was no preaching. Just earnest prayer for one another. They prayed to save families. They prayed for lives to be changed. They threw themselves on the altar of God and begged for mercy. The prayer meetings spread to Philadelphia, to Chicago, then across country, then to Europe.

Newspapers reported on its effects daily. There was no leader in this revival, no hysteria, no show, and little preaching. There were many changes lives.

Businesses nationwide began to close at noon to attend daily prayer. Most historians believe that 1 million souls were brought to salvation. Conservative estimates put that number at 300,000.

It began with one man’s desire to pray. Revival always begins in prayer. It is time once again for us to pray.

The One Thing…

July 10, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

In the raucous 90s movie, City Slickers, Curly, a rugged and inimitable trail boss gives a life lesson to Mitch, a greenhorn. “Do you know what the secret of life is?” He asks, holding up one finger.

“Your finger?” Mitch says smiling.

“One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else loses all meaning.” Of course, being an old ranch hand, Curly’s language is more salty.

“But what is that one thing?”

“That’s what you have to find out,” says Curly, the cowboy sage.

Many Christians struggle to discover that One Thing. They can spend their entire life in vain pursuit of one thing after another but fail to find the One Thing. The Apostle Paul, a man much less worried about comedic affects or entertaining others, tells us exactly what the One Thing is. In Philippians 3:13, he tells us,

…one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

So, what is that One Thing? It is reaching the goal, or the journey to to reach the goal. In other words, the One Thing that most matters to Paul is to live everyday in total devotion to Jesus Christ. As Christians, this also should our One Thing, the one thing that matters most.

What exactly does Paul mean when he talks about reaching forward and pressing ahead? What exactly is complete or total devotion to Jesus Christ? Let’s look at the context of this scripture.

Total devotion means giving up EVERYTHING. Paul considers his old life gone, forgotten, behind him (vs. 7-8). What he had once considered to be an essential part of his life – his name, reputation, standing in the community, wealth, education, religion- pales in comparison to his love for Jesus Christ. Though he lost it all, he doesn’t care. He is glad to have given it all up; he gladly traded it all for a deeper relationship with the Savior who sacrificed Himself to atone for Paul’s sins. Indeed, Paul has not just given up his old life, but has given up all this he is and ever will be…
Giving up EVERYTHING for WHAT? Why make such a sacrifice? Why give up everything? Paul gave up everything for the “excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus” his Lord. Once we get to know Jesus, through studying His Word… Once we get to know Jesus through fasting and prayer… Once we get to know Jesus by basking in His presence… Then we discover the excellence of His love. We give up all that is necessary to be able to spend just another minute at His feet, and living in His light.
To know Him and the power of His resurrection. Which of us would not wish to intimately know God if meant that we could share in the power of His resurrection? The power of His resurrection is the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, but more than that, it is the power to be free of the sin that binds us in our present life.
To share in the fellowship of His sufferings. The claim that Paul makes is that he wishes to share in Christ’s sufferings. This from a man who once dealt out sufferings similar to that which Christ endured. He knew the power of the Roman whip. He knew the slow tortuous death on the cross, yet he longed to suffer like Christ. He was told at the beginning of theHis ministry things he would suffer for Christ, but, still, he longed for more. He longed to submit to Christ, so that he may share in the loving light of Christ.

Paul longed to be confirmed to the death of Christ, if it meant sharing in the resurrection of Christ. This is the One Thing that mattered to him. And it should be the One Thing that matters to me and you.

Enough With The Change

May 29, 2016 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

Last week, President Obama visited Hiroshima, Japan, where many thought that he would apologize for America’s use of the atomic bombs which ended World War II. While he did not give an outright apology, he did make a statement that is in itself startling. Here is the way The New York Times reported it.

“Technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us,” Mr. Obama said, adding that such technology “requires a moral revolution as well.”

This statement is disturbing on many levels, not the least of which because he implies that to drop the bomb we must have been morally bankrupt.

History is in no need of defense. 130,000 lives were lost in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but perhaps half a million lives would have been lost on both sides of Operation Downfall, the Allied invasion of Japan, had it proceeded.

On a much deeper level, President Obama suggests that human morality is, or should be, fluid, changing at the same rapid pace at which technology changes. It is, or should not be, a constant, according to our president. This should come as no surprise, for our president, like all progressives, does not believe in immutable truth.

There really is, Mr. President, such a thing as moral truth. It is unchanging, immutable, and it once was the guiding light by which we, as a nation, governed ourselves. It should still be our standard today.

Had progressives not disregarded the truth in their quest to fundamentally change our world, we would be today much better off. For when the truth constantly changes and when morality is fluid… when what is right one day is wrong the next and what is wrong today is right tomorrow, then no one can stand firm. Mr. Obama does not have to call for changing morality, for he and others like him have already created such a world. The very ground on which we as a nation place our feet is crumbling beneath us. It seems that we can only watch as our nation is destroyed.

Here is the immutable truth against which Mr. Obama fights:• That all men are created equal.

• That we are endowed by our Creator (not our elite government benefactors) with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

• That all life is unique, sacred, and precious, from the conception until God takes that life home.

• That murder is wrong.

• That to lie is wrong.

• That to covet and steal is wrong.

• That to give freely as we are able to the poor, sick, and needy is our duty.

• That we are to protect and care for our families is our right and our duty.

• That we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, no matter who they are.

• That we have a right and a duty to protect our nation from invasion.

In spite of what progressives wish for you to believe, the extraordinarily large body of writings by our nation’s founders portray our nation as one founded on Judeo-Christian morals. Thomas Jefferson, among many others believed this nation to be the embodiment of the new Israel. He proposed that the seal of the United States should portray the Exodus, for he viewed the U.S. as the New Promised Land, a land of liberty, and Europe as an oppressive type of Egypt. While progressives paint him as a deist at best, he instituted Christian worship services in the capitol building. Ours is indeed a Christian nation, or it once was.

It wasn’t until we allowed the courts to remove Christ and Christian morals from the public arena that our nation began its decline. It’s okay, Christians reasoned; they don’t have to call our value system Christian, so long as they don’t change it. No one could have predicted just how much our nation would change once we set aside our Christian morals.

Morals change daily in 21st century America, for truth has been eliminated and there remains no firm foundation on which to base our beliefs. We have no moral compass and our national leaders are delusional. Perversion is worshipped and family values are attacked. Our leaders uphold or ignored laws on a whim. Laws respected yesterday are ignored today. Lies are repeated so often that the populace eventually believe it. Those who deny popular falsehoods are ridiculed, rejected, sanctioned, or threatened. Our world values nothing but pleasure and power, for there is no value in truth.

This upside-down world must either self-destruct or seek repentance. There is no other alternative. This is not a time, Mr. Obama, to seek further change. Had the electorate known eight years ago of what nature change you promoted, you would have lost the election. The only change that will restore sanity, liberty, and trust us to fall to our knees, turn from our wicked ways, and seek God’s face. 2 Chronicles 7:14.